Murder Your Motivation - Spirituality Information
"I don't believe in motivation."
"You can't find it?"
"It's an illusion?"
Many people feel like this. They have a strong idea of what they want to do with their lives, but they just don't feel motivated enough to actually follow through. It is much easier to give up on your dreams and go back into the world of 9-5 routine than it is to commit yourself wholeheartedly and wrestle with the gnarling monster of doubt that sometimes lurks inside your head.
For a lot of us, motivation is just not enough. We need more than that.
We need motivation plus action.
This process of committing yourself to a goal, and then thinking about the steps you have to take in order to achieve it is called "intentional living", or, more commonly in the self-development community, "intentional thinking". It was developed by Tony Robbins and follows the principle that we are at our most powerful when we are deeply immersed in what we are doing.
There are a number of self-development courses that follow the principle of intentional thinking, but because I'm sure you're short on time, I will leave it there and give you a step-by-step guide to intentional thinking.
Step 1: Understanding the "Why"
Take out a piece of paper and write down why it is that you want to achieve the goal in question. For example, let's say that I want to start a blog about spirituality for teenagers. The reason why I want to start this blog is because I get a lot of questions about it from my friends who are seeking spiritual guidance and don't feel comfortable talking to their parents about it.
This is the "why" of my goal. The "why" is the most powerful part of intentional thinking because it reminds you of why you are doing what you're doing. This serves as a constant reminder for me when I start to doubt myself, which as you know happens quite often.
Our mind is an incredibly powerful thing, and it's capable of making us believe just about anything.
Next time your goal is to read a book, or to start working out: remind yourself why you are doing it. It will help keep your motivation steady.
Step 2: Defining the Goal - The "What" and The "How"
The next step is to step into the future and imagine what it will be like when you achieve your goal. This is the "what" of your goal. Is it something that you want now? What will it look like to you in one month? In two months?
How can you actually achieve your future vision? How do you get from where you are now to where you want to be in the future? What specific actions do you have to take to get there?
Remind yourself of what it would feel like and how it will feel once this goal is complete. Sit with the feeling and make it your friend rather than your enemy.
Step 3: The Action Plan
This final step is to plan out a certain number of specific actions that you have to take in order to achieve your goal. If you have read my blog post last week, then you will know that I am a big fan of writing this stuff down on paper, so that's exactly what I will recommend here.
Write down the actions that you need to take in order to achieve this goal.
A List of Tangible Actions to Take in Order to Achieve Your Goal
1. _______________________
2. _______________________
3. _______________________
4. _______________________
5. _______________________
In this list, you will have a number of things that you need to do in order to achieve your goal, make sure that you take the time to actually do them.
I know that this list can be rather daunting, but that's a good thing. Sometimes we're very afraid of actually tackling these big goals of ours because they seem like such daunting tasks. If you write it out, however, and then start working on it bit by bit - never mind the fact that your goal may take years to achieve - but if you just take it one step at a time and start from where you are at right now, I guarantee that you will accomplish what you set out to do.
Exercises such as this are very powerful because they take a goal that seems so out of reach, and they make it tangible; something that is done one step at a time. And you know what?
That's the beauty of these exercises. They don't just inspire us to take action; they actually help us to take action. If you don't write down your list, then those actions will never happen. You'll never get anywhere unless you first put the physical steps down on the page.
Conclusion
This all sounds rather daunting, I know, but I assure you that once you implement these steps into your routine then they will become a part of who you are and anything is possible. They are like a foundation that you build upon in order to achieve your big goals.
When we have a goal that is worth reaching for, and something important enough to attract us to it, then there is no chance at all of us not pursuing it.